What's New Robert L. Park 12 Nov 2010

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 12 Nov 2010   Washington, DC

1. LIFE:  THE GREATEST SCIENCE QUEST OF ALL TIME.
James Watson and Francis Crick stopped by the Eagle after leaving the=20
Cavendish Lab on Saturday, February 28, 1953. Crick raised his glass and=20
announced to all in the pub, "we have discovered the secret of life." And=
=20
they had; they had unraveled the structure of DNA, the secret of life on=20
our planet.  We share genes with every creature that crawls on Earth.  Bu=
t=20
could nature have found other ways on other worlds to solve the problem o=
f=20
life?  That would be an even greater discovery.  We have seen no hint of=20
life on the other planets in our solar system, though we haven=92t yet po=
ked=20
into every corner.  In any case, the search for life to which we are not=20
related now reaches beyond the solar system to our region of the Milky Wa=
y=20
galaxy.   The Third Millennium began with the discovery of planets orbiti=
ng=20
stars other than our Sun.  We should be able to study these exoplanets wi=
th=20
the world's greatest telescope, under development at NASA Goddard.  It=92=
s=20
100 times more powerful than the Hubble, but trouble looms.

2.WHICH NASA?  THERE=92S THE EXPLORATION NASA AND THE CARNIVAL NASA.=20
The James Webb Space Telescope is in trouble. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), wh=
o=20
chairs the appropriations subcommitte that oversees NASA, clearly saw=20
trouble back in June when she requested a review of the NASA budget. The=20
review came in this week. The bottom line is that the James Webb space=20
telescope is a year behind schedule and $200 million short.  Christopher=20
Scolese, associate administrator of NASA, agreed with the report's=20
findings, but could not see where they could find the money.  I should te=
ll=20
him the secret, NASA is bifurcated.  The NASA that=92s the envy of the wo=
rld,=20
we might call "Exploration NASA," it=92s a science agency that discovers=20
exoplanets and puts rovers on Mars. Then there=92s "Carnival NASA."  It=20
arranges trips to space for people with too much disposable income, and=20
looks for water on the Moon to make rocket fuel.

3. LAGRANGE POINTS:  WHERE ARE THE MISSING OBSERVATORIES?
There are two obvious places to locate space observatories. They were=20
identified by the great French-Italian mathematician Joseph Lagrange 237=20
years ago, long before anyone even imagined space observatories. The=20
Lagrange points mark positions where the combined gravitational pull of t=
he=20
two large masses (Earth and Sun) provides precisely the centripetal force=
=20
required to rotate a relatively small mass (the observatory) with them.  =
=20
There are five Lagrange points in the Earth-Sun system. The first two are=
=20
the important ones.  L-1 is about 1.5 million km from Earth on a line to=20
the Sun.  It is the perfect position from which to monitor the Sun in one=
=20
direction, and the full illuminated Earth in the other. It is thus ideall=
y=20
situated to monitor changes in Earth's albedo. Americans paid more than=20
$100 million for an observatory at L-1, now called dscovr, the deep space=
=20
climate observatory. For unexplained reasons it is sitting idle in a=20
warehouse in Greenbelt, MD. The L-2 point is 1.5 million km from Earth on=
 a=20
line directly away from the Sun.  It is patiently waiting for the James=20
Webb space telescope.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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